Tanakh & the Ancient Near East Index – Parashat Acharei Mot

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Overview

Knowledge of the history, law, cultic practices and realia of the Ancient Near East can often shed much light on Tanakh. This index contains a list of links to articles which touch on the connections between Tanakh and ancient cultures.

The Goat for Azazel & Scapegoat Rituals

Listen to Scapegoats and the Ancient Near East, by Elana Stein Hain (particularly the last ten minutes), for discussion of the monotheistic beliefs underlying the Azazel ritual and how they contrast with the beliefs represented by other scapegoat rituals. For further discussion of non Biblical scapegoat rituals see Azazel: The Scapegoat in the Bible and Ancient Near East, by Ilana Rashkow,.

Capital Punishment

See Capital Punishment and Its Alternatives in Ancient Near Eastern Law, by Edwin M. Good, for discussion of the crimes for which capital punishment was mandated in ancient societies, including sexual prohibitions such as those mentioned in Vayikra 18. The author tries to deduce from these the varying values of these differing cultures. For example, he suggests that the more severe the punishment, the worse the society views the offense, which provides insight into the way differing cultures evaluated differing acts. Regarding Israel, he concludes: “One finds in Israel a religious ethic that is sometimes explicitly adduced in explanation of legislation, whereas Babylonian ethics would seem to be based entirely upon social or utilitarian considerations.”

Sexual Offenses

In his article, Crime and Sexual Offense in Hatti, Ilan Peled notes that Hittite codes were the only Ancient Near East codes aside from the Bible that prohibited bestiality. See also Structures of Power: Law and Gender Across the Ancient Near East and Beyond, Chapter 2 (Gender and Sex Crimes in the Ancient Near East: Law and Custom), also by Ilan Peled, for comparison and contrast of laws on sexual matters in the Ancient Near East, including those mentioned in Acharei Mot.